The opening reception for Patriots of Hudson in the Revolutionary War, an exhibition commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country, takes place on Thursday, March 5. As the event approaches, Gossips shares another sample from the exhibition--two panels that tell of Dr. John Talman, who served in the 2nd Regiment, Orange County Militia, and his son John Thurston Talman. (Click on the images to enlarge. The main text of each panel is transcribed below the image.)
Dr. John Talman
Giant in Hudson History,
"Beau Ideal of a Gentleman," Enslaver
By 1785 Talman resided in Hudson, where he married Heroine Jenkins (1767-1836). He was a physician, and one of the founders of the Columbia County Medical Society in 1806. He was twice mayor of Hudson. He was on the official committee to welcome General Lafayette on his 1824 visit to Hudson, while the eminent Frenchman was touring the United States. He was one of three people on the building committee for the 1818 almshouse, which still stands at the north end of 4th Street on State Street.
He was involved in the founding of Christ Church in Hudson, and was its first vestryman, and later a church warden. In 1803 he served on the board of The Episcopal Sunday Charity School, the second Sunday school founded in the State of New York.
He was also an enslaver of two persons.
Forty years after his death, he was remembered by Dr. P. B. Collar in a talk at the Columbia County Medical Society: "Dr. John Talman, of Hudson, was in the early days of the Society, one of the most popular physicians in the city. He was a skillful practitioner, and a man of very pleasing address. Of fine form, tall and well proportioned, with rare social qualities, he was the 'beau ideal' of a gentleman. He generally presided at the dinners, and his ready wit and sparkling repartee, made him the spirit of the company."
The Talman Family: From Enslaver to Abolitionist
Dr. John Talman is listed in the 1790 census as living with three white females (presumably his wife, Heroine Jenkins, and their first two children) and two enslaved individuals. We have not found any record of the enslaved persons or their situation.
The Talmans would go on to have eight more children including their son John Thurston Talman (1795-1850) who became an abolitionist.
John T. Talman married Mary Eleanor Fitzhugh, from the Fitzhugh family who helped found Rochester. John and Mary moved to Rochester around 1820. He served as cashier at the Bank of Rochester then at the Bank of Monroe. He was involved in the promoting of Rochester as an industrial center. He served as a trustee of the Rochester Female Academy (1842) and School District #3 (1846). Talman was a member and vestryman of St. Luke's Episcopal Church.
He also managed the Fitzhugh Estate including the commercial buildings on the Fitzhugh’s 100-acre tract in Rochester. After John’s death, one of the buildings was named the Talman Building.
Rochester was a hotbed of abolitionist activity. Mary Eleanor and her sisters, Elizabeth Potts and Ann Carol, were all active in the abolition movement as were their husbands. Ann and her husband Gerritt Smith’s home in nearby Peterboro was a station on the Underground Railroad and she had an enclosed carriage in which she would travel with veiled fugitives to Canada.
Frederick Douglass moved to Rochester with his family in the late 1840s. Mr. Douglass’s North Star printing office was on the second floor of the Talman Building.
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